Facebook partners with GAME to promote entrepreneurship in India

As per the agreement, GAME and its partners will assist small entrepreneurs to build their businesses using digital platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, to aggregate demand, market products and acquire customers.

New Delhi: Facebook announced a partnership with Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) to promote entrepreneurship in the country on Tuesday. “The objective of this partnership is to ramp up job creation and to further empower entrepreneurs”, said the company in a press release.

The partnership is part of Facebook’s endeavour to train 5 million people with digital and entrepreneurial skills by 2021.

As per the agreement, GAME and its partners will assist small entrepreneurs to build their businesses using digital platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, to aggregate demand, market products and acquire customers.

The first phase of the training will be rolled out this year and will cover 10 States across the country including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, and Maharashtra among others. The focus would be on rural entrepreneurs and especially women entrepreneurs.

“Imagine the power of a platform that can bring together communities of artisan clusters, agri-entrepreneurs or homepreneurs in the thousands to learn, collaborate and succeed- the possibilities are boundless” said Ravi Venkatesan, Founder, GAME and ex-Chairman of Microsoft India and Bank of Baroda.

Commenting on this partnership, Ankhi Das, Public Policy Director, Facebook - India, South & Central Asia says, “We believe that when you give women and youth the skills and technology to improve their lives, we can equip them to unlock economic and social value for themselves and their communities. Our partnership with GAME seeks to create these models and implementations in priority states.”

Launched in August 2018, GAME seeks to build an ecosystem for youth-led mass entrepreneurship at the local level in the country.